Offshore processing bill given go-ahead

A Senate committee has given the go-ahead for a bill excising the Australian mainland from the migration zone.

But it needs to be amended to require the government to give a full report on processing of asylum seekers to both house of parliament each year.

The legal and constitutional legislation committee said it was desirable that there be comprehensive reporting arrangements to ensure transparency and accountability of regional processing of asylum seekers.

"The details to be provided to the parliament should cover issues such as refugee status determination procedures and their outcomes, as well as arrangements for the accommodation, health care and education of unauthorised maritime arrivals in regional processing centres," the committee said.

In a dissenting report, Greens Senators Sarah Hanson-Young and Penny Wright said the bill should not be passed.

"The primary effects of this bill is that it would extend the punitive offshore processing regime to a new class of people - all asylum seekers who arrive on the Australian mainland," they said.

The legislation, the Migration Amendment (Unauthorised Maritime Arrivals and Other Measures) Bill 2012, seeks to amend migration law to implement a key recommendation of the expert whose report led to the government reintroducing offshore processing of asylum seekers.

The panel, headed by former defence chief Angus Houston, recommended that arrival by boat anywhere on Australia should not provide a different lawful status than for those who arrived at an offshore location already excised from the Australian migration zone.

Under the bill, anyone arriving irregularly in Australia waters by boat would be subject to regional processing.

This aims to dissuade people from trying to reach the Australian mainland in a bid to avoid being sent for offshore processing, as would happen if they arrived on Christmas Island or Ashmore Reef.

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